So my first couple of night jumps are coming up soon, and I've been reading up on ways to make myself more visible. I've already got chem lights and a strobe for my helmet, but I wanted to light up my canopy, too.

I made a holster for a small AA flashlight to attach to the back of my front (mini) risers. A small loop of rope attaches the holster to the loop at the top of the riser, and a velcro strap holds the bottom flush against the riser. The triangle-shaped "pillow" on the back is designed to angle it out slightly to shine past the slider, and a second velcro strap across the top secures the flashlight from falling out. The holster is packed while attached to the risers so that it can be turned on immediately after opening.

Did I miss anything in terms of safety? Once it's open it should work perfectly, but I want to make sure I didn't overlook something it could interfere with like opening, cutaway, etc. I know there's always a danger in adding something to your rig, but I tried to design this with safety as a priority. I attached some pictures to give you a better idea of everything. Thanks for the help!

Ive only done a couple nightjumps, we were required to have a small flashlight so you can check your canopy. After that, turn off light. You don't want to ruin anyone's nightvision and you do not want to attach anything to your canopy/risers/bag/bridle/....

Aside from the small flashlight for your canopy check, just get a couple big chemlights. Make sure you tape those up until right before exit. Get a small chemlight for your alti, again taped off on one side, or get an alti that has a backlight itself + new battery.

I concur on not attaching it to the risers. I have however attached a flashlight to the back of my wrist with Tape, when you are on toggles it points up and illuminates the canopy and it is never pointed at any other jumpers.

In the few night jumps I've made, I've never found a need to have a light to look up at my canopy. It is close enough to see whether by natural light or whatever is coming off any glowsticks taped to your body. Most of the time you'll know without looking whether you have a malfunctioned canopy or not. Scenarios where you might want a light would be very rare, and usually can be dealt with some other way. (E.g., in the rare case of a canopy tear, a control check should usually be a sufficient test of the canopy, rather than a visual evaluation of just how many inches long the tear is.)

Still I can see that a light shining up at the canopy (even if towards a corner) would be really good for letting others spot your canopy!

As when attaching a glowstick to a riser, if the light were turned on before the jump, it would help find the canopy in the rare but potentially expensive case of a night cutaway.

That's a negative ghostrider. Try to avoid messing with the 'chain of command', that being the anything from the risers on up.

Also, your light stands a good chance of being ejected on opening anyway. The forces and speeds that a risers travels during opening are quite high, and engineering a mount that will withstand those forces would be tough. Best case scenario, the light falls harmlessly away. Worst case scenarios - the light comes off and hits you in the face, or it tangles with your toggle/brake line while in the riser trough and gives you a mal.

A small flashlight will only cast a small beam of light. If you really want to check the whole canopy, you would need to pan the light from side to side and front to back, much easier to do if it's taped to your arm.

In the end, as others have mentioned, you can just look up and see your canopy. I have manu night jumps and none with a flashlight. In terms of visibility to other jumpers, the strobe/glowsticks are enough.

was your grandma mad at you when you took her drapes away for project materials?

Haha. It was actually leftover material from mom's drapes, but close enough. It was a strong material for the right price, so I can handle the looks

The point of the design wasn't so much to illuminate the canopy for visual inspection as it was to make myself visible to others. 7 of my 9 cells are white, so 2 of these would really make my canopy glow. I had planned on testing these with a higher pull during the day in case something did go wrong, but if the general consensus is to leave 'em off till after opening I'll go that route. Wrapping the velcro strap around the riser after opening would only add a couple of seconds anyway, but it'd still provide the visibility I'm going for.

Forget putting on the riser. Listen to your elders. We used to LOTS of night jumps and figured it all out a long time ago. I've seen lights put everywhere. Most didn't work. I've seen flashlight on feet as landing lights. I've even seen red rotating battery operated 'gumball' lights on top of helmets.

For others remember you need a strobe out after opening. I made some red led altimeter lights from Radio shack parts for Alt III and II. That and a chem light on my helmet is all I ever needed. Enjoy the dark.

I've seen lights on risers to find canopies. They rarely stayed on and are a hazard. If anything some guys used to bust a chem light and through it a cell of their canopy before packing.